In just one week in the 1930s, the people of Bolton raised a remarkable £1.2 million to aid the coming war effort and “adopt” a new warship. Now a new book throws that selfless time into the spotlight once more.

IT was 1937 and in Germany Adolph Hitler was already making plans for “Lebensraum” – making living space for the German people at the expense of other nations in Europe.

In Bolton, just like every other town, city and village in the United Kingdom, people understood war and what it meant. Many had lived through the “war to end all wars”, World War One, when millions had died.

Bolton was a working class town where the main currency was pride. The Mass Observation project, “Worktown”, chronicling daily existence in pictures had just begun. A glance at these telling photographs reveals ordinary people with little spare cash, intent on earning a crust and enjoying what they could glean from life.

Against this background, the storm clouds of war had started to gather in Europe. Although Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain wanted appeasement - “peace in our time” - rearmament was still vital to counter any threat.

So, the Government turned to the people for funds. The National Savings Committee set towns and cities the seemingly unreachable target of £1 million each.

In “Warship Week”, this money would pay towards a vessel. And the residents of Bolton, led by the then Mayor Walter Tong and local councillors, threw themselves into this fundraising campaign over seven days with single-mindedness and zeal.

As Walter Tong’s daughter, Margaret Taylor, later told the Bolton News: “I was at school at the time. I remember the bulk of the money came from individuals and children in schools. People just gave what they could.

“There were no fundraising gimmicks in those days. Everyone just wanted to help the war effort. There was a marvellous atmosphere in the town that week.”

By the end of Warship Week, Boltonians had surpassed even the original suggested figure and raised £1.2 million. As Colin Bates of the HMS Dido Association explains: “That would be worth £45 million today – a truly amazing figure for one town to raise.”

The result was not only the completion of the anti-aircraft cruiser, HMS Dido, but also a lifelong link with the ship for Bolton and its people and with other ships bearing this ancient name since.

From this notable start, HMS Dido became known as the Luckiest Ship in the Fleet; she was damaged only once by enemy action. She gained battle honours at Crete, Sirte, Anzio, Salerno, the South of France, Sicily and with the Malta convoys.

In 1945, she fired the very last shot of the war and was also instrumental in accepting the surrender of the German Navy in Copenhagen.

Her “life” was not over then, either. She carried the late Queen Mother to the Isle of Man, represented the Royal Navy at the funeral of King Christian of Denmark and, finally, was the flagship of the reserve fleet at Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation revue in 1953.

For Boltonians, HMS Dido was “their” ship and always would be. The original cruiser was scrapped in 1958, but three years later the anti-submarine frigate, HMS Dido, was launched and also adopted by the town.

In April, 1972, the crews of both ships were granted the Freedom of the Borough. Even in 2014, Bolton councillors have been lobbying to get the Admiralty to consider using the name again for one of 13 warships coming into service after 2020.

For Colin Bates, in the Navy for 12 years, the frigate HMS Dido was “the happiest ship I ever served on.” Evidence of this is visible in the regular activities of the HMS Dido Association which has around 350 members, most of them from the frigate but some from the original cruiser.

Mr Bates, who lives in Birmingham, was given many files of research on HMS Dido by former Bolton businessman Tom Ashton. He had spent 20 years compiling information on the ship and interviewing those who had served in her.

Mr Ashton has lived in the Isle of Man for the last 20 years. As well as the comprehensive research, he also ensured the HMS Dido legacy continued in Bolton by presenting records – even lists of every person who originally donated to Warship Week – along with war medals to the town.

“The association loses members from the cruiser every year, and that was one of the main reasons I wanted to ensure we got the book out,” states Mr Bates who spent 10 years compiling the research into book form.

“It’s all about the ship, not the people who served in her,” he adds. “There have been Dido’s throughout history – the first Dido served in the Royal Navy in 1784.” The last was sold to the New Zealand Navy in 1983.

Whether or not there is another HMS Dido is not yet known. But whatever happens, one thing is certain: when the thousands of residents of Bolton of all ages got together to raise money to fund a ship in the challenging days of 1937, it was undoubtedly their finest hour.

* “HMS Dido – The End of an Era” by Tom Ashton is available from Amazon in hardcover, softcover and as an ebook